1) I have been very sceptical about growth mindset over the last few years, but a new study has substantially changed my mind…

2) In research-design terms, this was bulletproof: pre-registered, randomly-assigned, teachers didn't know which students got the growth mindset intervention and analysis team didn't know the hypothesis or which group was which.

3) Students did 2 x 25-minute online activities about growth mindset: just telling them that we can get smarter (not telling them to practice). These were conveyed using various powerful techniques (like stories from role models).

4) The impact: a) it changed students’ opinions about whether they could learn, b) lower-attaining students gained higher grades, c) students were more likely to choose more challenging maths courses the following year.

5) The intervention had less effect if the school was already effective (most students did well there), and if peer norms about achievement were negative.

6) I can't fault the study. Worth noting that this was designed by a stellar team - but it's scalable and powerful: 0.1 SD increase in GPA for an hour's intervention. So I'm having to update: growth mindset is more promising than I'd thought... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1466-y